Toyota - ready to redefine mobility at last?

In the auto industry, it's very common for Manufacturers to reserve their most exciting concept cars, biggest stands and most exciting news for their home motorshows, so it stood to reason that at the forthcoming Tokyo Motorshow, Toyota were going to try and make a splash. Still, it comes as something of a surprise that the company is unveiling not one or two, but nine concepts later this month.

Most exciting are three all new concepts - the 1/X, RiN and i-Real.

The 1/X is a lightweight concept plug-in hybrid vehicle, that most commentators think points towards the next Prius. Look closely at the pictures and you'll notice a logo on the front that looks nothing like the regular Toyota badge. The suspicion is that this confirms a long-held theory that Toyota will move the Prius hybrid line 'away' from regular Toyotas and establish 'Prius' as a line of separate vehicles, which might include two or three models - in a similar manner to Lexus or Scion.

The RiN, which is intended as 'a new focus on promoting well-being' could be interpreted as Toyota looking to explore a potential market for new inner-city mobility systems - it's aesthetic is very similar to the driverless vehicles that people like Robosoft are exploring.

There's a very autonomous 'mobility-pod' aesthetic going on here

The i-Real is possibly the most interesting. It is the fourth vehicle in Toyota's personal mobility concept range, and builds on the iSwing from 2005, while also incorporating aspects of the 'PM' from 2003.

The i-Real is the latest in a long line of Toyota's 'PM' concepts

And much that the aesthetic of all these vehicles is what one might politely describe as a little odd, to focus purely on the aesthetic would be to totally miss the point. What we have here are three ideas for the future, from a company that in 1985 was a deeply conservative operation which was financially on it's knees, and has - in twenty years - turned itself into the biggest, most profitable and technologically innovative car company in the world. Having produced several of these 'personal' mobility concepts over the last few years, it would seem that if one company is going to redefine personal mobility, and have a go at replacing the car - at least in urban environments - then it's a fair bet it will be Toyota. Might we see something resembling one of these vehicles available to buy within the next few years? - Here's hoping.

The iReal has a 'third leg' which allows the vehicle to lean back for stability